The Transformed World
and 
The Ego's World:
"The Thunder of the Meaningless"
Kenneth Wapnick, Ph. D.

The topic today is “The Transformed World.” I do not think this term appears in the Course, but the concept certainly does, and the word “transformed” appears a great deal. As with many terms based on the Course, there are different levels of meaning. The ultimate meaning of the transformed world would be the real world, which one could say would be the actual goal of the Course. Once we are in the real world, then Heaven is just one step away.  

The real world has nothing to do with the physical universe, of course. The real world is that state of mind in which total forgiveness has occurred and the Atonement has been accepted. We truly know, not just cognitively or intellectually, that the entire world is a dream; our physical existence in this world is a dream, and our reality is outside of the dream. When we know that once and for all and never waver, that is the real world. We can say the transformed world would be equivalent to that. There is a beautiful section called “The Forgiven World,” which really is about the real world, in which the Holy Spirit is referred to as “the great Transformer of perception” (T-17.II.5:2). When that transformation is complete, that is the real world. 

But the term also would be relevant for the process; the process wherein we go continually from our wrong minds to our right minds. And then we become afraid, we become wrong-minded again and embrace the ego as our teacher. Then we recognize that is a mistake, and we go back to Jesus or the Holy Spirit. It is that process back and forth that is a gradual transforming of our perception.  

There is a workbook lesson that says: “Let miracles replace all grievances” (W-pI.78). As we let go of our grievances one by one, that is a transformation of the relationship. Someone that heretofore we had hated or that we had made our special love object, all of a sudden we recognize is our true brother in Christ. The relationship then becomes transformed.  

The ultimate goal of the Course, which actually is stated at the beginning of the workbook, is that we generalize these instants, these holy instants, when a miracle replaces a grievance, when we choose forgiveness instead of judgment. And we generalize it, not just to one person but to all persons; not to one person some of the time, but to all people all of the time. It is that process of generalization that goes into the gradual transformation of our perception or the transformation of our world. And again, when that is fully complete and forgiveness is fully consummated, that is the real world. That is the end of the journey. So today, as in the Course, we will go back and forth between both of these ideas.